Chloe's Silent World

Chloe Reuber of Dubois, 9, let the wind blow her hair back as she waited for her mother, Mary, to spray her hair black as part of her Halloween costume before trick-or-treating Nov. 1. Chloe, now in the fourth grade, was born completely deaf. She had a brief period of limited success with a cochlear implant when she was a toddler, but the implant became infected and was removed. Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

ChloeÃ•s classmates ChantÅ½ Miller, left, Samantha Truelove, Kylie Morton and Eric Ehrhard looked to Chloe for guidance as they signed the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the day at Dubois Elementary School on Sept. 4. Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Interpreter Kathy Buschkoetter signed to Chloe during a one-on-one literature session Oct. 21. Literature and reading are complicated subjects to teach to deaf students. When they deal with unfamiliar words, Chloe must learn how they are spelled and how they are signed, as well as the wordsÃ• meanings. As Chloe gets older, Kathy is trying to teach her to be more independent in her learning.
Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Chloe sat by herself in the hallway at Dubois Elementary School as her classmates lined up for the annual fourth-grade Thanksgiving feast Nov. 26. Though Chloe can communicate with her classmates, sometimes she gets left out because so much of communication is verbal. Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Chloe and her friend and classmate Dakota Roach made faces at each other with their oranges during lunch at school Oct. 21. All of the students in ChloeÃ•s grade can communicate in some way with her. Dakota is one of the students who has made a strong effort to learn sign language. Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Chloe answered the phone for her paternal grandmother, Elaine Reuber of Dubois, while her grandmother had a hair appointment at Island Tropix in Jasper on Sept. 11. Though Chloe canÃ•t hear the person on the other end of the line, that doesnÃ•t stop her from answering the phone. Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Chloe scratched her ear against her shoulder to deal with the pain of an infection as Dr. Anna G. Gilley, left, talked to ChloeÃ•s paternal grandmother, Elaine Reuber of Dubois, about how to treat the infection Sept. 11. The infection was in her right ear, the same ear that got infected after she received a cochlear implant when she was a toddler.
Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Chloe yelled in protest as her mother, Mary, insisted she do her homework about idiomatic expressions Sept. 30 and her brother, Zachary, 17, looked up idioms that would be easy to explain to her. Things like idiomatic expressions are difficult for Chloe because sign language is very literal. Since she doesnÃ•t hear idiomatic expressions in context and they make no sense literally, Chloe has to simply memorize what each one means. Since Chloe cannot verbally complain about having to do her homework, she finds other ways like yelling because she knows that it gets everyoneÃ•s attention.
Ariana van den Akker/The Herald

Chloe and her mom both reacted with surprise when Mary got a makeup crayon to work again after it snapped in half as she drew whiskers and a nose on Chloe to go with her cat costume for trick-or-treating Nov. 1. Ariana van den Akker/The Herald